April Extra Post

While at mentorship I was discussing with my mentor the possibility of bringing new toys for younger kids between ages 1 and 3. Since kids usually have siblings some toys that my mentor sells are no for kids under 5 because of the risks involved like choking. So with that in mind I gave my mentor the idea of selling toy bears for kids since younger kids tend to enjoy toy animals. My mentor like the idea and said he would look into it, first he would have to find a supplier.

Blog 19: Independent Component 2

LITERAL
(a) I, Brian Arteaga, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.
(b) My main source of help for my independent component was my mentor himself Alex Ahmed. I felt that he would best help me understand my EQ since he has experience with small businesses and because before opening his business he was a salesmen in his home country.
(d)When mentoring with him I was focusing mostly on my second answer, advertising more effectively and offering an experience with the business, but found that my third answer was most related to my work. While completing my 30 hours I talked and jelled many customers and would address their concerns, until my mentor gave me advice when doing so. He noticed that i was very serious when helping customers so he politely mentioned to me that I should be more out going since it was toys that we were selling. He also told me that even joking around with customers every once in a while is really good for customers to return and purchase again. Since toys are often seasonal my mentor explained to me that updating his display was crucial in maintaining sales since toys come and go he finds himself buying toys based on popularity to best keep customers happy.

Fourth Interview Questions

1. Would you consider yourself an expert in business?
2. How much experience is enough experience in a business?
3. Does the amount of experience you have help with maintaining profits?
4. Is wholesaling an option?
5. Do your sales decrease when prices increase?
6. How are there sales?
7. Is there a certain age that you like to focus when you are making sales?
8. How often do you encounter frequent customers?
9. How do you adjust to changes in rent/lease for your business?
10. Is there an employee there at all hours of the business?
11. Is health insurance an option for employees?
12. Do you buy wholesale?
13. How many employees are currently on payroll?
14. Do sell online?
15. Do you ship oversees?
16. When sales are high do you multiple employees work at one time?
17. Does sales experience help with making sales?
18. Do personal emotions affect ability to make sales?
19. Does the employee working dictate sales entirely?
20. Any factors that influence your sales?

Blog 17: Answer 3

1. EQ:
-What is the best way to maintain profits year round with minimal manipulation to prices?

2. Answer #3:
-The best way to maintain profits year round with minimal manipulation is to stay caught up with trends and to have good salesmanship.

3. 3 Details:
-Salesman need to deliver a quick but effective pitch consisting of all the information that needs to be said without losing the interest of the customer.
-A pushy salesman can steer away customers from your business so its important to remain calm when pitching to a customer.
-Since my mentor is a toy dealer he must keep up with the new toys that hit the market.
4. Sources:
-Fallon, Nicole. "5 Key Parts of Every Successful Sales Pitch."BusinessNewsDaily.com. Business News Daily, 12 Dec. 2014. Web. 29 Jan. 2015.

-Klein, Karen E. "Six Tips for Launching New Products." Bloomberg Business Week. Bloomberg, 10 Oct. 2014. Web. 07 Nov. 2014.

-Grauer, Yael. "10 Winning Ways to Keep up with Industry Trends | VR Marketing Blog." VerticalResponse Blog. VerticalResponse Blog, 30 July 2014. Web. 02 Mar. 2015.

5. Small businesses require a lot of attention since they are close to the start ups there are many moving pieces that require attention.

February Blog Post

I was talking to my mentor about how businesses like Apple scam their customers by continuously offering "updated" products and discontinuing older products. They brainwash consumers into thinking that the older product they have is useless and that they are subpar compared to the new products. Although this is kind of messed up, this is a good marketing strategy.

Answer 2

1.  What is your EQ?

• What is the best way to maintain profits year round with minimal manipulation to prices

2.  What is your first answer? (In complete thesis statement format)

• The best way to maintain profits year round with minimal manipulation to prices advertising more effectively and offering an experience of some type along with the business

3.  What is your second answer? (In complete thesis statement format)

• The best way to maintain profits year round with minimal manipulation to prices is to maintain customer loyalty and constantly be expanding your products.

4.  List three reasons your answer is true with a real-world application for each.

• While mentoring I talked with my mentor about the products he offers and he said there are bigger merchandise he would like to sell, like bigger and more popular toys, but is limited because of his display.
• Since my mentor owns a small business he rarely has repeated customers, if he were able to get people to come back his profits would increase.
• If people like the services you offered people will come back for the experience they received they will come back allowing more sales.

5.  What printed source best supports your answer?

• An article about customer loyalty

6.  What other source supports your answer?

• My mentor

7.  Tie this together with a  concluding thought.
My mentor runs the business entirely by himself, he does a lot of reading on running a business so he is my most valuable asset.

Blog 15: Independent Component 2 Approval

Content:

1.  Describe in detail what you plan to do for your 30 hours.

• I plan on researching my second answer more specifically with my mentor. My next possible will be related to advertising more effectively and offering an experience with the business so I will ask my mentor how that plays a role in the development and day to day operations of his business.

2.  Discuss how or what you will do to meet the expectation of showing 30 hours of evidence.

• I will use photographs and a signed copy by mentor that states my hours completed and what I did at each session.

3.  Explain how this component will help you explore your topic in more depth.

• Since there are a lot of moving pieces to a business from the start up to the general maintenance I think that one of the most important parts of keeping your business alive is your services and your customers. With that in mind I would like to explore that aspect more in depth to gain a better understanding of the businesses logistics.